Hear the beginnings of Mr. Kitzel by Artie Auerbach. Also, hear Jack Haley and Lucille Ball teamed up with Gale Gordon for the first time! Artie Auerbach (May 17, 1903 - October 3, 1957), was an American comic actor and professional photographer who became famous as “Mr. Kitzel”, first on the Al Pearce radio show then as a regular on the Jack Benny radio show. Despite having a successful career as a photographer for the New York tabloid Daily Mirror Artie Auberach desired to get into show business. He began by telling Yiddish anecdotes for which he became very popular at private parties. The Jack Benny Show had previously had a Jewish-accented character, “Shlepperman”, played by Sam Hearn but it was discontinued in the late 1930s. In 1946 Auerbach was hired as a permanent, although only occasional, character, Mr. Kitzel (sometimes spelled “Kitzle”). In January he made his first appearance as a hot dog vendor at the Rose Bowl game Jack was attending where he became famous for the catch phrase "Pickle in the middle and the mustard on top!". His other catch phrase was the exclamation “ooh ooh, hooo!” usually delivered in response to a question from Jack. His character moved with the show when it made the transition from radio to television and he continued to appear until his death.[1] In 1957 Artie Auerbach died of a heart attack at 54 years of age in Van Nuys, California.